Abstract : Since the creation of the Italian association Slow Food in 1989, the term slow has been separated from the food domain and has since been used in many areas of everyday life (cosmetics, scientific research, design or management). The diffusion of the slow expresses an accusation of the rythms of our modern world and reveals an ethics widely shared. A field study amongst people who promote the slow and a pragmatist approach of values has allowed us to construct an inductive definition of this ethics, acknowledging the moral conflicts and compromises from the actors.